Hell House LLC. Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Hell House LLC. Blu-ray Movie Review

Hell House LLC is the first installment in the popular haunted house horror film series. Produced by Joe Bandelli (Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel, Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire), Hell House LLC became popular as a horror franchise with the horror streaming service Shudder. Executive produced by Craig Cognetti, David Cognetti, Joseph Cognetti, Kevin Cognetti, and Mark Cognetti, Hell House LLC stars Gore Abrams, Alice Bahlke, Danny Bellini, Theodore Bouloukos, Jared Hacker, and Lauren A. Kennedy.

It was an ordinary Halloween night. The opening night celebration of the new haunted house tour at Hell House LLC commenced. The tour guides and staff at Hell House LLC were ready for a night of eventful scares and frightened guests.

Instead of an ordinary night of haunted house entertainment at Halloween, Hell House LLC ended up turning into a nightmare rapidly as the night went on. 15 individuals from the tour and staff ended up dead. Five years following the eerie tragedy at Hell House LLC, a documentary film crew returns to Hell House LLC to investigate the tragic and unexpected deaths.

The cast of characters in Hell House LLC includes Paul O'keefe (Gore Abrams), Diane Graves (Alice Bahlke), Alex Taylor (Danny Bellini), Robert Lyons (Theodore Bouloukos), Tony Prescott (Jared Hacker), Melissa (Lauren A. Kennedy), Martin Cliver (Jeb Kreager), Sam (Angela Moyer), and Andrew McNamera (Adam Schneider). The characters find themselves in a complicated situation – from the origin of the big night of terror at Hell House to the production of the documentary about the eventful Halloween night. The actors have a good time with the production and do well with the low-budget horror feature – the cast has a great time with feature.

The production design by Scott Mobley (Get Out, Halloween) is one of the highlights of the horror feature. There is a lot to admire about the impressive production design. The Hell House LLC sets impress in spades. The Halloween setting of Hell House LLC is well-done and the entire production is a nice showcase for the eerie locale and haunted house vibe – the setting being quite compelling.

The entire house in Hell House LLC was designed to look as eerie and creepy as possible. Every crevice and corner of Hell House looks spooky and creates a sense of terror for the production. As someone who has always been terrified by haunted houses (the rare occasion of going in to one for a Halloween event left me petrified), Hell House LLC does a perfect job of creating an intense haunted house setting – one of the best done on film.

The score composed by Larry Hopkins (Documentary Now!, How the Universe Works) is entertaining and creates a good sense of tension for the horror filmmaking. The score amps up the adrenaline during the frights and the jump scares. The music creates suitable dread and unease for the filmmaking. Hopkins certainly does a compelling job with the score.

The cinematography by Brian C. Harnick (Completely Normal, The Eve) is one of the best aspects of the production. The cinematography creates an eerie vibe with a true documentary aesthetic alongside a low-fi energy that makes the visuals stand out even more. The low-fi quality is one of the best visual elements – adding to the terror and tension of the filmmaking. There is a lot of charm in the spooky cinematography and these aspects make the documentary vibe of the film all the more entertaining.

Written and directed by Stephen Cognetti (Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel, Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire), Hell House LLC is an incredibly effective haunted house feature and the documentary style of filmmaking is one of the great aspects of Hell House LLC. Cognetti has a ton of fun with the eerie and creepy haunted house setting. The filmmaking feels D.I.Y. at times and low-fi – adding to the horror filmmaking and making the production all the more effective at producing solid scares. Fans of the found footage horror genre and documentary horror style will appreciate the quality direction by Cognetti and what Hell House LLC has to offer to genre enthusiasts.

Hell House LLC. Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Umbrella Entertainment, Hell House LLC is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The transfer is well-done throughout the presentation. The low-fi quality of the production is well reproduced with a solid encoding of the film.

The documentary style visuals are well-done and look every-bit as genuine as an actual documentary and the found footage aspect is terrific. The haunted house photography plays with the D.I.Y. visual style. The cinematography helps to create a lot of eerie visuals that are well reproduced by the video encode. The presentation is true to the source material and is an accurate reflection of the intended visual aesthetic – including the intentional low-fi visual style often used during the haunted house sequences.

Hell House LLC. Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided. The sound design by Reece Miller (Dracula: The Impaler, The Black Tape) is enormously well-done and is well reproduced on the physical media release.

The lossless surround sound track is enormously engaging and there is an impressive sense of creativity with the surrounds. The surrounds are actively utilized and there are enormous spatial elements at play. The haunted house setting is perfect for creepy, eerie, and engaging sound effects. The sound effects are well mixed into the surround sound soundstage.

The lossless audio encoding is one of the benefits of the release. Blu-ray and the physical media format highlight some of the strengths of home media. Physical media can provide lossless, theater quality audio presentations whereas streaming services are limited to lossy (non-lossless) audio encoding. Home theater enthusiasts and audiophiles with nice sound systems appreciate these audio quality differences.

Hell House LLC. Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Audio Commentary with Director Stephen Cognetti

Hell House LLC – Director's Cut (HD, 1:37:18) as presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. Unfortunately, with regards to the extra scenes in the extended cut of Hell House LLC, the audio presentation on the extended cut is only in standard lossy quality and is not lossless on the director's cut version. The director's cut option is an impressive addition to the release.

It is always nice to have alternate cuts and extended versions available for those interested in them. I am often unsure why the director's cut is not always the default viewing option but it is nice to see the effort made to ensure all options are available to audiences – viewers can pick and choose between the original cut or the extended director's cut (or watch both). As with most director's cuts, this version is extended – by a few minutes – and is not a shorter alternate cut. (I do sometimes wonder about the occasional rare director's cut that removes a scene or more to make a shorter version – the rare director's cut that chooses brevity).

Found Where? A Video Essay With Andrew Frost (HD, 10:42)

Cast Auditions (HD, 4:01)

Behind the Scenes (HD, 13:53)

Deleted Scenes (HD, 5:33)

Hell House Unseen Improv Scenes (HD, 16:07)

Trailer (HD, 2:30)

Hell House LLC. Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hell House LLC is an impressive horror gem. Fans of haunted house and documentary style horror films in the found footage genre will appreciate what the feature-film has to offer. The style of filmmaking impresses in spades.

The spooky atmosphere and haunted house thrills are reason enough to see the feature. Writer-director Stephen Cognetti kick starts his hit horror franchise in style with this impressive debut outing in the popular found footage film series. A must-see for horror fans.

The Blu-ray release provides an excellent high-definition presentation and lossless audio encoding. The release also includes a nice selection of bonus features – including an extended director's cut, an assortment of featurettes, and more. Recommended.